Ciao tutti!

Last week we had another one of our Contemporary History classes and it was on-site. Our great teacher Pazit took us to take a tour of a contrada museum for the contrada of Pantera, aka the Panther. The city of Siena is divided into 17 contrade, small sections of the city. For the great Palio race only 10 contrade race. I live in the contrada of the Civetta, the owl, it is very small and has not won for nearly 30 years haha, go figure… The museum was opened specially for us and an older man named Umberto was there with us and took us around along with our teacher. He was really cute and you could tell he was very proud and loved the contrada and the museum. He used to be a drummer in the marches during the Palio. In the museum there were the banners that the Pantera has won over the years. They are all hand painted silk and gorgeous, all of them had to include three different shields for the city and for the liberties and all of them had a picture of the Madonna di Provinzano at half bust for a win in the July 2^nd race of a picture of the Madonna dell’Assunta full figured for a win on an August 16^th race. Unfortunately I did not have my camera when we went to the museum but others did so I will have to save their pictures. The building the museum was in was gorgeous itself not to mention what was inside of it. They also had on display the uniforms and clothing they wear at the Palio, both what they wear today and hundreds of years ago…so awesome. They are all made out of silk and gold and precious materials. I was a little freaked out though because there was fur on the outfits because the contrada is the panther and Umberto told us it was all real fur. Italy is not too into the animal rights. There is an enormous amount of money put into the Palio. It was a good trip and I learned a lot about the Palio in the process.

On Friday I took the bus from Siena to go to Anna Lisa’s to get ready for Roma in the morning. I figured the bus out by myself again and almost missed it leaving because it is just so confusing but I made it on safe and sound. I was the last one on the bus by the time that I got to the stop where I had to catch another bus to Anna Lisa’s. The bus from Siena ends in a small stop in Gaiole in Chianti and then there is a smaller shuttle bus that leaves from there to Cavriglia where she lives….of course the last shuttle bus is at 3pm and we get to the stop at like 3:01 and I see the shuttle bus as it is driving AWAY. It is incredible that they do not wait…they know that there is this bus coming from Siena and it is the last one. I could not believe it, I talked to the two bus drivers at the stop in Italian and I was not pleased, thankfully Anna Lisa’s is not that far away and she was great and came and picked me up. I felt really bad though but oh well.

Friday night Maristella arrived! She is so cute. We all went to bed reasonably early and at 6am we were at the hospital where Anna Lisa works catching the bus to Rome. It was an organized tour group deal and I sat next to a really nice woman, she gave me chocolate on the ride home haha. We arrived at the Vatican City around 9:30 and our tour of the Vatican Museums was at 11 so we hung out in the piazza for a while and Patrizia met up with us! She, too, is very cute. At 11 we took our tour of the Vatican Museums. We had a nice older lady for a guide and we all had the radios with head phones and walked around in a group. I did not understand everything she was saying but I did catch a good amount and there was SO much to see in the museums!! It was a gorgeous day as well so it was awesome. The last thing we saw on the tour was the Sistine Chapel which is of course amazing. My second time (thanks to Carol), it was crowded but I spent some time looking at everything.

After the tour with the group we had until 6pm to meet up at the bus to go home so we went to St. Peter’s Basilica and climbed the Cupola!! Probably about 500 stairs and SO worth it. The view of Rome from up there was BREATHtaking. My camera had ran out of battery by then which I was so sad about but it’s just a mental image I will have forever. You could see so far out and the sky was so clear and after getting through all the spiral stairs and tight spaces up the cupola the breeze was heavenly. I am glad we climbed it because when I took my group tri to Rome that is one thing that we did not do. It was bizarre though because on Thursday night I met two girls in Siena that were here for just the night on a mini tour of Italy thing for their spring break so we talked for a bit. Then when we were in Rome and climbed the Cupola and were at the top, I SAW them, it was the most random thing of my life. Such a small world I am tellin ya. After that Maristella and I went and visited Castel San Angelo where the pope once lived and was then turned into a prison for a while and then freed. We used the audio guides and did the hour tour in about 45 minutes so we wouldn’t miss the bus but it was really interesting and I’m so glad we did it. The huge stone structure is impressive and was really neat to walk around in. We were in a room that used to be an apartment and it had gorgeous frescos all over the walls and ceiling that told a Greek myth and I was excited because I already knew the whole thing because I took a Greek Mythology class at Umass.

Today we had our language class for 4 hours in the morning and then this afternoon we had a contemporary history class for 2 hours. We did trivia on the Palio, it was a good class. Now we are talking about the unification of Italy. I always look forward to that class.

Caitie’s boyfriend Brad is here right now, he came to visit on Spring Break from Umass! He’s a nice guy. Everyone’s parents are getting here soon and relatives, it’s exciting! I love having people in our apartment! I am going to head off now to get some homework done but will try to post again soon and not such a drastic novel so your eyes do not fall out. xoxoxoxoxo